Zoo getting better since 2008 review: COO

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This article was published 11/01/2012 (5034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NATIONAL inspectors red-flagged the zoo’s monkey house, its staff offices and its long-term maintenance and repair program a few years ago.

But Assiniboine Park Zoo staff say a multimillion-dollar overhaul now underway will address most of those deficiencies in time for the next national review.

In 2008, a pair of inspectors from the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) spent several days at the zoo, eyeballing everything from funding models to animal enclosures to patron amenities such as washrooms and walking paths. In their report, the inspectors rated elements of the zoo “acceptable,” “unacceptable” or “questionable.”

Recently, as part of a joint project with the Winnipeg Free Press, students from Red River College’s creative communications program attempted to obtain those inspection reports through access to information. They were stymied.

Don Peterkin, the chief operations officer for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy, said the reports are meant to be confidential, which allows inspectors to be blunt in their critique without fear of publicly embarrassing the zoo.

“We want that,” said Peterkin. “We want that criticism, because that’s how we get better.”

In an interview Tuesday, Peterkin said no part of Winnipeg’s zoo was found to be unacceptable, but several parts were rated “questionable,” including the zoo’s preventative maintenance program and its hodgepodge of aging staff offices. Some managers are housed in the former lion exhibit and others are in portables.

Since the CAZA report, the zoo has embarked on the construction of a new, $3-million administration building to be completed this summer.

And, Assiniboine Park is in the second year of a 10-year preventative maintenance program where $3.1 million is earmarked annually for repairs and upgrades, most of it at the zoo.

The monkey house, which Peterkin said is probably the zoo’s oldest and most outdated piece of infrastructure, also earned a “questionable” rating from inspectors.

Since then, the zoo has temporarily moved gibbons to another facility in Ontario, giving the lion-tailed macaques more room to roam. But that’s only a stop-gap measure.

Peterkin said a new complex for Asian animals such as the monkeys is the zoo’s next major capital project after the new four-hectare Arctic exhibit is completed in late 2013.

Peterkin called the new Journey to Churchill exhibit and the polar bear conservation and research centre “probably the most significant zoo project in Canada in the last 25 years.”

It replaces the old enclosure belonging to beloved polar bear Debby, who died the same year CAZA inspectors visited the zoo. Debby’s small, out-of-date enclosure got the thumbs-up from CAZA only because Debby was old and required less space. If the zoo had tried to use the enclosure for new cubs, CAZA would have balked, said Peterkin. That’s part of the reason for the new Arctic exhibit at the zoo.

The next CAZA inspection is slated for 2013 and Peterkin predicts the zoo will still get a “questionable” rating for the monkey house, with the caveat CAZA recognizes the improvements made for the macaques and the plans to overhaul the monkey house altogether in the next few years.

And, he said, CAZA will also likely find fault with the long-term maintenance of some buildings and amenities. Instead of sprinkling money everywhere at once, the zoo is doing targeted preventative maintenance by spending bigger dollars on larger projects that will last, including the new Toucan Ridge tropical house and fancier washrooms near the main entrance.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca